Ice Hockey
in Nova Scotia
The Early Years
The Windsor Avonians –
1900
by Dr. Garth Vaughan
The Avonians named after the Avon
River at Windsor, were champions
of the town in 1900. They won the
Citizens Trophy, donated by
Windsor
hockey
fans
for
competition of four senior teams in
the Town League, the Avonians,
Elgraves, Kings College and
Resolutes.
The population of Windsor then was
a mere 2,000, but then again, that
was the same population of
Edmonton at the time!
Windsor Juniors - 1889
This is one of the oldest hockey team photos in Canada. In 1889 taking year-end photos of
hockey teams was a new idea. The Windsor ‘Juniors’ was a champion team that competed
with teams from King’s College, Hantsport, Wolfville, Kentville, Acadia University as well as
the Halifax Athletes. They used hand-made hockey sticks and no protective equipment. The
team consisted of eight players. Seven played the entire game, with on spare in case of
injury. Medallions on their jerseys showed that they were champions for three years, as
trophies were used for another decade.
PO Box 430 Windsor,
Nova Scotia, Canada
B0N 2T0
902-798-1800
www.birthplaceofhockey.com
The Society solicits donations of antique
hockey equipment, photos, memorabilia and
information as well as financial assistance.
1800 – 1890 No protective
equipment used in Ice Hockey
1860 Wooden pucks used in
Nova Scotia
1880 Ice Hockey first played
Windsor Ladies Hockey Team
- 1924 The Windsor Ladies began
indoors at Halifax, Nova Scotia
playing hockey in the 1890’s. This 1924
team competed with teams from the
Valley and Halifax. Excellent skaters,
they were real contenders and
frequently won with lop-sided scores.
They always entertained the other
teams following a match. Their skirts
were navy serge and sweaters heavy
wool which sopped up much water
when they hit the thawing ice at winter’s
end.
and shin pads
The Windsor Hockey Heritage Society motto:
Supporting hockey for youth – the creators of Canada’s great national game
The Windsor Hockey
Heritage Society
Equipment Chronology
1890 Quilted knee-length pants
1904 Sausage-finger padded
gloves
1914 Short pants and long
stockings
1920 Knee pads
1940 Elbow pads and shoulder
pads
1945 Leather helmets
1950 Body pads
1960 Goalie face mask
HANTS COUNTY – Birthplace of Hockey and so much more…
‡
Bay of Fundy & site of highest recorded tides in the World
Sea captains and sailing vessels • Lighthouses • 300 million year old fossils and soaring
cliffs • Acadian and Mi’kmaq heritage
Maitland, 1st Heritage Conservation District in Nova Scotia
Golf, river raft hike the ocean floor, ski or board
See what we do with 1,000 pound pumpkins! … Row, Row, Row Your Gourd…
For more info: Email [email protected]
For great hockey gift ideas, visit – the Wooden Puck Gift Shop, Windsor Hockey
Heritage Museum, or online at BirthplaceofHockey.com
Produced by the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society, Updated and Edited July 2014, ‡Birthplace of Hockey® is a registered trade name of the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society.
Acadia University A.A.A. Hockey Team – 1902
Front row center is Owen B. Keddy of Windsor, team captain and center of the seven
member team. He became a surgeon and practiced his entire life in Windsor where he
was also Mayor of the town and Governor of Acadia University for many years. Note that
his name is burned into the handle of his hockey stick with a red hot stove poker, as was
the custom. His 100 year old ‘Starr Hockey Skates’ are on display in the Windsor Hockey
Heritage Center.
Ice Hockey
In Nova Scotia
The Early Years
By Dr. Garth Vaughan
The Birthplace of Hockey – 1800
Windsor is the Birthplace and Nova Scotia
is the growth place of Ice Hockey. Nova
Scotia
newspapers
chronicle
the
development of Ice Hockey from Ice
Hurley in the early 1800s. Ice Hockey is as
Canadian as the Maple Leaf and as Nova
Scotian as the Bluenose.
The Evidence
Windsor, settled in 1684, is one of
Canada’s oldest towns. King’s College
was established in Windsor as the
country’s first college in 1788. Having
adopted the Irish field game of hurley to
the ice of the ‘long pond’ at the back of the
college property, King’s boys are credited
with the origin of Ice Hockey.
Haliburton and Ice Hockey
The Father of American Humour, Thomas
Chandler Haliburton, was born in Windsor
in 1796 and was educated at King’s. He
became a lawyer, judge and politician. He
wrote the first History of Nova Scotia and
gained international recognition as an
author. He explained to his readers that
his works drew on his own experience
with people and scenes in Nova Scotia.
He attended King’s College School circa
1800. Through his character Sam Slick,
he speaks about schoolboy games:
“…you boys let out racin’, yelpin’, hollerin’,
and whoopin’ like mad with pleasure
(playin’) hurley on the long pond on the
ice…” This is the earliest reference in
English literature to a stick ball game
being played on the ice in Canada. Nova
Scotia archivist C. Bruce Fergusson
brought attention to this in 1965 in the NS
Journal of Education.
From Hurley to Hockey 1800 - 1850
Hurley is played year round in Ireland.
Snow and ice make Nova Scotia fields too
rough for stick-ball games in winter, but the
smooth surface of their favorite skating
pond seemed ideal for Ice Hurley. Windsor
was very important to the provincial capital
and known as ‘The Playground of Halifax’.
Some of King’s students were from nearby
Halifax and Dartmouth, so naturally the
game spread there, supported by a healthy
Irish population and British military
personnel. Over a fifty year period the
game was known as hurley, ricket, wicket
and finally Ice Hockey. In 1859, The Boston
Evening Gazette reported that hockey was
being played in Nova Scotia and sent for a
set of sticks.

Hockey in Montreal - 1875
The Elusive Puck
James George ‘Aylin’ Creighton was born
in Halifax in 1850 when Hurley and Hockey
were interchangeable names for the same
game. A graduate of Dalhousie University,
he was also a football player and figure
skater. When he moved to Montreal in
1872 to work as an engineer, he joined the
Montreal Football team and taught new
athletic friends to play Nova Scotia’s game
of Ice Hockey.
Hurley, like other stick-ball games, uses a
leather covered ball. Being unwieldy on ice,
it was replaced with a wooden disc. There
is documented evidence of wooden pucks
being used in Nova Scotia since the mid1800s. As the game was taken up in
Montreal, the description of the first game
indicated that a wooden disc was used
there as well.
His influence as a judge of figure skating
gave him access to the Victoria Skating
Rink for hockey team practice and on
March 3rd, 1875, Creighton and friends
provided Montreal with the first game of Ice
Hockey played inside a covered rink. There
were nine players a side and Creighton
captained the winning team. The game was
played by the Halifax Hockey Club Rules,
written by Creighton, who arranged for
friends back home to ship two dozen sticks
for the game. Without realizing it, this Nova
Scotian had become the Father of
Organized Hockey. In Nova Scotia,
because of the rough nature of the game, it
was still not allowed to be played in skating
rinks and remained an outdoor game until
1880.
Hockey in Ottawa – 1884
Creighton acquired a law degree in 1880 at
McGill University and soon moved to
Ottawa as a Law Clerk for the Senate and
became involved in establishing hockey
there. In 1884 he organized the Rideau
Hall Rebels with senators and aides de
camp along with two sons of the new
Governor, General Lord Stanley. Enthused
by the game and his sons involvement, he
donated a Canadian Amateur Challenge
Trophy. In 1893 it later became the famous
Stanley Cup, used for professional ice
Hockey to this day.
Vulcanized rubber was not used for pucks
until the Royal Military College and
Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario
took up the game in 1886.
Evolution of
Hockey Equipment
The World’s Best
When Ice Hockey was in its infancy, skates
were all hand-made and held to boots with
ropes or leather straps. In 1863, John
Forbes, the foreman at Starr Mfg. Co. Ltd.
In Dartmouth, NS invented self-fastening
‘spring’ skates which applied to the soles of
boots with the flick of a lever. They sold for
75 cents a pair, became world-famous and
revolutionized skating and Ice Hockey.
Box Nets
Nova Scotia Scores Again
Rocks were first used to mark the goals,
then posts were stuck into the ice. In 1899
the “Nova Scotia Box Net” was invented in
Halifax. Tried in Montreal the following
season, they were then accepted all across
Canada. Amazing!
For the first 75 years that ice hockey
was played, the number of players
was not limited. The number of
players was fixed at nine in 1875 and
soon reduced to seven.
The 7th player was known as the
ROVER - another Nova Scotia
addition to the game. The Rover was
the fastest skater and best scoring
player on the team. He was allowed
to play where and as he wished and
was catered to by team mates. The
Rover was discontinued in Nova
Scotia in favour of coordinated ‘team
play’ in 1913. The Rover position was
adhered to until 1923 on the west
coast.

Nova Scotia Starr Hockey Skates
were the favourite of Canadian
Hockey players into the 1930's.

Admission to games in Nova Scotia
changed with the times.
1886: 10 cents
1899: 20 cents
1902: 25 cents
1940: 25 cents
1788
Windsor, Nova Scotia - home of
Canada’s First College - King’s College
1800
(c.) King’s College School boys
played Hurley on ice which became Ice
Hockey.
1859
Boston Evening Gazette Editor
sends to Nova Scotia for a set of sticks
to introduce Ice Hockey to New England
1863
Clamping device invented by
Starr Mfg. Co. of Dartmouth. Skates
Nova Scotia
Ice Hockey Trivia
fastened to boots quickly with a small
lever. Patented in Nova Scotia, Starr
skates revolutionized skating and ice
hockey. ♦ Halifax Skating Rink was Nova
Scotia's first covered skating rink.
1866 Starr hockey skates with rounded

Nova Scotia's major hockey games
were played outdoors on natural ice
surfaces for nearly a century before
covered rinks were built, allowing the
games to come on out of the weather.

For the first 63 years that ice hockey
was played in Nova Scotia, players
attached skates to their boots with
ropes or leather straps. They were
hand-made by local blacksmiths.

For at least the first 100 years that
hockey was played, sticks were handmade and no two were the same.
Players picked the one that suited
best.
“Made in Nova Scotia”
Local Nova Scotia MicMac carvers and
other craftsmen created hand-made sticks
from young hardwood trees, using the root
as blade and trunk as handle. They
supplied Canada’s “hockeyists” with their
favorite Micmac Hockey Sticks into the
1930’s.

Block Skates and Starr Skates
Canada’s Great National Game 1890
In 1886, the Royal Military College and
Queen’s University took up the game in
Kingston, Ontario. Then, as the western
province began playing in 1890, Ice
Hockey became Canada’s national winter
obsession.

Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq craftsmen
supplied
Canada's
professional
hockey players with hand-made
sticks well into the 1930's when
factory-made sticks captured the
market.
Produced by the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society, Updated and Edited July 2014, ‡Birthplace of Hockey® is a registered trade name of the Windsor Hockey Heritage Society.
Nova Scotia. ♦ Referees chosen by team
captains.
1888 Nova Scotia's first hockey league.
1889 Philip Hamilton, of Windsor
training to be a wheelwright, told in a
diary of making hand-carved hockey
sticks for all of his "Windsor Juniors"
team mates. ♦ The Windsor Junior photo
depicts the players wearing three
championship medallions.
1890s - 1912
Teams consisted of
seven players who played the entire
game
1890s
Before
silver
trophies,
medallions were pinned to jerseys. ♦
Screws and rivets first used to
permanently fix skates to boots.
1893
Very elegant 36” high Starr
trophy donated for Halifax Hockey
League
1899
Previously, goal posts were
called “flags” and were without net. ♦
‘Nova Scotia Box Net’ invented in
Halifax.
1900
Halifax Crescents challenged for
the Stanley Cup and lost to the Montreal
Shamrocks ♦ Lightweight ‘Silver King’
tube skates were invented by Starr Mfg.
Co. ♦ Mi’kmaq craftsmen at Millbrook,
near Truro, sent sticks by freight trains to
Halifax. ♦ ‘Nova Scotia Box Net’ adopted
across Canada. ♦ Coloured Hockey
Championship of the Maritimes operated
from 1900 to 1920. Blacks were not
allowed to play with whites – formed own
team. Seven teams in loosely organized
league – Africville Seasides, Halifax
Eurekas,
Dartmouth
Jubilees,
Hammond’s Plains Mossbacks, Truro
Victorias,
Amherst
Royals
and
Summerside West End Rangers. Games
lively and well attended but no trophy
was awarded.
1904
Starr Trophy used for Maritime
Senior Hockey League.
ends and rocker-shaped blades patented
in Nova Scotia.
1905
1870
1906
Windsor's first skating rink built
on Fort Edward.
1875
Two dozen sticks sent from
Halifax to Montreal for a game on March
3, 1875. ♦ Nine players constituted a
team. ♦ The first indoor ice hockey game
played in Canada.
1880
Hockey played indoors in Nova
Scotia at Sarre's Rink, Halifax. It was
previously banned.
1886 Ice hockey introduced to Kingston
Ontario, hockey sticks were sent from
First
NS
University
League
formed
New Glasgow challenged for the
Stanley Cup and lost to the Montreal
Wanderers.
1908
Canadian Professional Hockey
began with the formation of the National
Hockey Association replaced by the NHL
in 1917.
1909
Harry McCulloch could not use
skates because of a congenital foot
deformity, tended goal – he wore boots
as Port Hawkesbury captured the Cape
Breton Junior Championships on harbour
ice.
1910 Professional hockey began in NS.
1912 Programs were first given out at a
Dartmouth - New Glasgow game
1913
Referees first paid ♦ Sydney
Millionaires challenged for the Stanley
Cup and lost to the Quebec Bulldogs.
1917 NHL replaced NHA. Stanley Cup,
Amateur
Trophy
now
professional Ice Hockey
used
for
1920
King’s College burned. Windsor
was a college town for 135 years. ♦
“Skates” first cited in Ice Hockey rules skates are assumed to be a given in Ice
Hockey ♦ Skates first mentioned in
dictionary meaning of Ice Hockey ♦ At
Halifax Market, hockey sticks made by
Mi’kmaq and Afro-Nova Scotia craftsmen
sold for 25 cents each. Children picked
up leftovers on Saturday for 10-15 cents
each.
1923
King’s College rebuilt in Halifax
on Dalhousie Campus. King’s College
School remains in Windsor.
1927 Manager Art Ross indorsed Starr
Hockey skates on behalf of all Boston
Bruin payers.
1920s - 30s
Arthur Sawler, Windsor
made steam-bent ash hockey sticks
called ‘Swipers’ that sold for 50 cents
each.
1930s - 40s “Pirate
Hockey Stick
Company”, Wolfville employed Mi’kmaq
craftsmen to hand-carve sticks from
hornbeam, a native hardwood akin to
birch. Used in Annapolis Valley League.
1930s
Nova Scotia’s Starr Skates
were the favourites of Canadian
professional hockey players. ♦ Nova
Scotia’s MicMac Hockey Sticks were the
choice of Canada’s hockey players. ♦
Laminated sticks made in Ontario first
appeared. They often came apart where
glued.
1957 Canada’s first hockey school was
held at Kentville in July.
1964
Starr Trophy used for Maritime
Senior Hockey since 1904. ♦ Windsor
Maple Leafs won the Starr Trophy that
now rests in the Windsor Hockey
Heritage Museum.